The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7335 p157
5 February 2005

Society summary

Women community pharmacists encouraged to help with workforce research project

The Pharmacy Practice Research Trust — the independent body established by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in 1999 to promote practice research — is encouraging women pharmacists in the north-west of England to take part in a survey of working patterns in community pharmacy.

The study is being carried out by Wendy Gidman from the University of Manchester under the Sir Hugh Linstead Fellowship scheme, which is administered by the trust and funded by the Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust.

Last year Ms Gidman was awarded a Linstead fellowship worth £35,500 to explore what motivates female community pharmacists’ working patterns (PJ, 9 October 2004, p545). The trust expects the study to provide valuable information for future pharmacy workforce planning.

The trust says that over the past few decades the pharmacy workforce has changed. In 1941 an estimated 10 per cent of the workforce were female but the 2002 workforce census indicated that the pharmacy workforce within Britain can now be described as female dominated. Women account for 53 per cent of pharmacists in Britain and more than 60 per cent of pharmacy undergraduates.

The trust adds that part-time working, which is common in community pharmacy, is particularly common for women pharmacists over the age of 30. However, little is currently known about what motivates women community pharmacists to adopt their chosen working patterns.

The study will involve interviews with women community pharmacists in the north-west of England and recruitment letters are currently being distributed to prospective interviewees. Women community pharmacists who live in the north-west and would like to participate in the study but have not received a recruitment letter are asked to contact Wendy Gidman, Research Pharmacist, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT (e-mail wendy.gidman@man.ac.uk; tel 0161 275 2342). Any queries about the study should also be addressed to Ms Gidman.